Training the Mind (Of Dementors and Patronus)

My mind is my best friend and worst enemy. God gave me a mind that will take on a marathon challenge, but will cower at the thought of doing a 400-meter dash. It is a mind that can solve differential equations but gets dumb-founded with a 3X(3X200M).

This is the same mind that dreads the Nike Training Clinics. I was one of the early registrants, but I froze when I saw the training plan: drills, tempo runs and those Number x Number signs. Yes, I love running, particularly the long slow distance, but I dread those that entail running fast at maximal effort. When I run fast, I experience knee pains and heels that hurt. I suppose I lose correct form in an effort to gain short-term speed. The pain does not last long, but it threatens to overshadow running pleasure.

My fear is not without basis. One book says, "...When you push as hard as possible for as long as possible, you do several things that are counterproductive to the adaptive process. First you experience great physical pain, which makes it less likely you will want to repeat the experience...Second, you stimulate the body to an overproduction of adrenal-gland hormones epinephrine and cortisol - the stress-response hormones... By forcing sustained overproduction, you exhaust the adrenal gland for a time, causing the phenomenon referred to as parasympathetic overtraining. This state both inhibits your adaptive ability and removes all joy from the training process."

(Championship Triathlon Training, by George Dalam, PhD and Steven Jonas, MD, both triathletes)

Maybe I am overthinking and overreacting. I suppose the physical pains are bearable, but I find it hard to accept that state where all joy from training is lost. From injury you can recover, but it is very hard to regain lost motivation. I should know - I have a 5-year love/hate/love/hate/love relationship with running.

The Harry Potter in me sees pain, injury and fatigue as Dementors threatening to drain out all the running happiness in me. Prior to my first session (the assessment run) I even tried to imagine the Patronus I would conjure when the Dementors attack. It would be my favorite dog Sofia, a Shetland sheepdog. I pictured Sofia bravely chasing away the Dementors and herding us to safety.

Dementor, Sofia

The Dementors did not attack the first night. Across the Great Hall that is Nike Park we did our drills and passed through the Sorting Hat. Like a Freshman wizard, I watched in awe as the Headmaster and the professors demonstrated the tricks. They were awesome. I must confess though that I cheated in doing the drills. Dumbledore told us to run at maximal effort, but I think I only ran at maximum tolerable effort. I guess I was still afraid - of the Dementors. I seem to attract them when I exert maximal effort.

Yesterday my fellow wizards and I returned to the Hogwarts grounds to do practice runs. One wizard-friend was a natural - light on his feet and effortlessly fast. I silently wished I could run like that. As my fellow wizards finished their runs, I opted to stay behind. I walked further and found myself on the spot where we started our assessment runs. I remembered my wizard friend and his natural running form. I can run like that. With that picture in mind, I found myself setting my stopwatch and suddenly darting to do fast runs. I would do 5X800M with 10-15min rest intervals. I was aiming for fastest time within maximum tolerable effort. I went home jubilant. Speed runs can be fun after all. I just have to watch out for Dementors. In due time I hope to do away with a Patronus. Sofia and I will run in peace at Hogwarts.

Training for Speed

It has been two weeks since I decided to seriously aim for speed - to swim, bike and run faster. Since I was starting from a very low (rather, slow) base, I figured my initial improvements should be dramatic. Well, I did improve but I am not sure it was dramatic.

Swim. My benchmark for the swim is my personal best of 12 minutes for a 350m distance. Another is my 32min time for a 1K swim. The third parameter is the 19 strokes per 25m lap. So far, I have managed to swim 350m in 9min, 54sec. I also managed to swim 25m in 29 seconds! According to a swimmer friend who used to compete in inter-school races, their swim team always aimed for less than a minute per 50m, so I guess my 29-second 25m lap should be good enough. I haven't tried measuring up to the other parameters.

I have several observations though about this swimming for speed. First, swimming to relax is way more fun, although beating target times gives one a nice jolt of personal accomplishment. Second, I improved my time considerably by turning up for air less often. Third, I realised that my left arm is a bit weaker when I go all-out in stroking the water. I should remedy that with weight training. Fourth, I tire more easily and huff heavily after each lap, simply because I have to always push myself to my limits everytime. This is the only way for me to wake-up whatever fast-twitch muscles I was born with and train my body for high-intensity, anaerobic sprints. Eventually, I hope my slow-twitch, aerobic body will soon elevate its tolerance for this anaerobic workout and I will tire and huff less. Only then can I enjoy swimming again. Or maybe I can learn to like the occasional anaerobic sprints.

Bike. This is my waterloo, I admit, although I believe this is one area where I can make the most improvement. I started with the goal of beating my time of 40min for a 12k bike through the hilly terrain of AAV. The first thing I have to overcome is my fear of accidents. Slowly I hiked my saddle up to the point where my toes are barely touching the ground when I'm seated on the bike. I did numerous practices doing downhills in our village, and would congratulate myself everytime for surviving each round. A week of this and I did the 12K bike again. On my first round I did 35min, 31sec. The second round, I was a measly 5 seconds faster! Well, the 5 minute overall improvement should be good enough for that period. A few days after (during the Feast of Ramadan hours after the stormy skies cleared), I tried it again. On damp roads I managed 33min, 22sec. Yehey! And then it rained again. Sigh. I am hopeful that the road bike I will soon get will vastly improve my time.

Run. This another area of difficulty. Although I have ran in at least a dozen road races and finished long distances of up to 25K, I am far from being an efficient runner. Being overweight, I have short strides and I am pitifully slow. On a treadmill, my average speed is probably 7.5km/hr. The fast few days I have managed to elevate that pace to as high a 9.5km/hr. My goal is to comfortably run at 10km/hr. Only then can I reasonably and seriously dream of enlisting for a full-blown marathon. I feel that my bike training help my running tremendously. I have stronger quads and glutes which allow me to have longer strides. On hindsight, I think I have been relying too much on my calves to do the running for me. Lately, I have been focusing on making the bigger muscles (glutes and quads) do some of the work while running. Hopefully I am doing things right.